About Me

This site is the inspiration of a former reporter/photographer for one of New England's largest daily newspapers and for various magazines. The intent is to direct readers to interesting political articles, and we urge you to visit the source sites. Any comments may be noted on site or directed to KarisChaf at gmail.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

As President Obama prepares to change the way the U.S. gathers
intelligence, he faces another difficult issue: What exactly should he
do with Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor
who revealed the extent of the spying in the first place?

At least
two major media organizations have expressed their viewpoints. The New
York Times and London's The Guardian, where journalist Glenn Greenwald
revealed the secrets Mr. Snowden had stolen, called upon Mr. Obama to
grant clemency to the whistleblower, who's now living in Russia. So far,
the White House has rejected the call.

"Considering the enormous
value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed,
Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and
flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his
country a great service," The Times wrote in an editorial. The Guardian
wrote that Mr. Snowden "gave classified information to journalists, even
though he knew the likely consequences. That was an act of courage."

But is it acceptable for someone to steal classified material for the greater good? Simply put, do the ends justify the means?

Only
this past week did the secrets of another theft of government documents
— taken in 1971 — come to light. Ironically, the story is not unlike
that of Mr. Snowden, except he made his name known while the 1971
thieves of FBI documents from an office in Media, Pa., kept their names a
secret until now — years after the statute of limitations had expired
and they were safe from prosecution. Moreover, the incident occurred a
few months before the delivery of what became known as the Pentagon
Papers, stolen by Rand Corp. analyst Daniel Ellsberg, to The New York
Times about the Vietnam War.

Betty Medsger, a former reporter for
The Washington Post, revealed the story of the FBI theft, which is part
of a new book and a documentary.

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